Wrapping machine folding channel side wall and conveyor mounting means



Aug. 25, 1959 w. HOPPE ET AL 2,900,777

WRAPPING MACHINE FOLDING CHANNEL SIDE WALL AND CONVEYOR MOUNTING MEANS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1' Filed Feb. 28, 1957 'INVENTOR 5 v mmdm Aug. 25, 1959 w. HOPPE ET AL 2,900,777

WRAPPING MACHINE FOLDING CHANNEL SIDE WALL AND CONVEYOR MOUNTING MEANS Filed Feb. 28, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 m i WJ W. HOPPE ET AL WRAPPING MACHINE FOLDING CHANNEL SIDE WALL Aug. 25,1959

I AND CONVEYOR MOUNTING MEANS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 28, 1957 38 SIUWWH 0 \A/IHIELTI'I HE! [II E t. Jtuzmi: Krum E'I Aug. 25, 1959 w. HOPPE ETAL 2,900,777

WRAPPING MACHINE FOLDING CHANNEL SIDE WALL AND CONVEYOR MOUNTING MEANS Filed Feb. 28, 1957 O 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR .JELBUIJ KTELTH EI BY p ATTORNEYS Aug'. 25, 1959 'w. HOPPE ETAL WRAPPING MACHINE FOLDING CHANNEL SIDE WALL AND CONVEYOR MOUNTING MEANS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Feb. 28, 1957 I I E K-ptu'n E1" 2 Wed ATTORNEYS Unit WRAPPING MAC FGLDING CHANNEL SIDE WALL AND CONVEYOR MOUNTING MEANS William Hoppe, Longmeadow, and Jacob Kramer, East Longmeadow, Mass, assignors to Package Machinery Company, East Longmeadow, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application February 28, 1957, Serial No. 643,037 7 Claims. (Cl. 53-223) Sttes atent nels require periodic cleaning and servicing. The matter of cleaning in many food wrapping operations becomes an important factor since sanitary or other reasons require a high degree of cleanliness. The inconvenience of cleaning prior machines and particularly their folding channel results further in requiring a great amount of time for their cleaning. One of the chief sources of difliculty is that access to the folding channel side walls is limited by the manner in which they and their associated conveyors are mounted. Such mounting means have an added limitation in that many special packaging requirements may not readily be taken care of, as where it is desired to laterally shift the conveyors relative to'the folding channel side walls.

Accordingly it is the object of our invention to provide a wrapping machine having simple and economical means for mounting the side walls of its folding channel and the conveyor passing therebetween so that the side walls may be easily cleaned while at the same time a greater versatility is readily accommodating special packagingrequirements is provided.

The above and related objects and the various novel features of our invention will be readily apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment, making reference to the accompanying drawings, and the particular novelty thereof pointed out in the appended right hand portion of the folding channel of Fig. 1A, cer-' tain intermediate portions between the Figures 1A and 1B being omitted;

Fig. 2 is a plan view partially in section of the folding channel and conveyor mounting means seen in Figs. 1A.

and 1B with certain portions broken away or omitted; Fig. 3 is a section taken generally on the line III- HI in Fig. 2 with certain elements omitted for clarity; Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line IV-IV in Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a section taken on the line VV in Fig. 1A; Fig. 6 is a section taken on the line VIVI in Fig. 1B with certain parts in an alternate adjusted position;

Fig. 7 is a section taken on the line VIIVII in Fig. 2; Fig. 8 is a section taken on the line VIII-VIII in Fig. 1A;

Fig. 9 is a section taken on the line IXlX in Fig. 1A; and

Fig. 10 is a section taken on the line X-X in Fig. 1A.

We have chosen to exemplify our invention as it would and 3) and the threaded shaft 62.

be used in a well known type of wrapping machine commonly used in wrapping bread or like articles, though of course its utility is not necessarily limited to this particular type machine.

Some of the basic and well known elements of such a wrapping machine will be seen in Fig. 1A. An elevator 20, pivotally mounted on shaft 21, receives articles in a lower position and'is raised to introduce them into the folding channel of the wrapping machine. As they are raised they are encircled in the leading end of a web W which is partially controlled by underlap roll R pivoting about shaft 23. After the elevator 20 is raised to the position shown, each article is initially moved along the folding channel by a lever 22 rocking about a shaft 25 and bearing against a pusher plate 24. Article A represents an encircled article partially so moved and imme-' diately prior to the webs being severed by knife K.-

Thereafter the articles are carried through the folding channel by spaced flights or paddles 26 of two overhead conveyors along a base plate 27 which is curved at its forward end.

The folding channel comprises two opposed side walls,

of composite construction. In the illustrated form the side walls include top folders 28 (Figs. 1A and 5), front flap tuckers 30 (Fig. 1A), bottom flap folders 32 (Fig.

1A), heat sealing plates 34 (partially seen in Fig. 1B),

end labeler units 36 (Fig. 1B) and cold boxes 38 (Figs. 1B and 6). Thevarious components of the two side walls are respectively suspended from or otherwise mounted on compositely formed rails which include (Figs. 1A and 2) brackets 40, sloping bars 42, longitudinally extending bars 44, and also (Figs. 1B and 2) end labeler brackets 46, and further longitudinally extending bars 48.

The side walls are mounted for movement transversely of the folding channel through the means now to be described. Brackets 50 (Figs. 1B and'6) are screw fastened to bars 48 and slidably receive a transverse shaft 52, while the end labeler brackets 46 slidably receive a'transverse shaft 54 (Figs. 1B and 2). The sloping rails 42 are provided with brackets 56 which slidably receive a I transverse shaft 58 (Figs. 1A and 5) and the brackets 40,

slidably receive a transverse shaft 60 (Figs. 1A and 3). The transverse shafts are secured at their respective ends to the side frames 59, 61 of the wrapping machine.

Means for transversely moving the folding channel side walls include a plurality of transverse threaded members or shafts 62, 64 (Figs. 1A and 2), 66 and 68 (Figs. 1B and 2) which are journaled at their respective ends on the side frames 59,-61. Each side portion of these threaded shafts is oppositely threaded and are respectively received by appropriate threaded portions of the brackets 40, 56, 46, and 50. It is desired that these shafts be rotated simultaneously in order that all portions of the side walls will be moved transversely of the folding channel upon rotating of a single shaft. For such purposes threaded shaft 64 may be considered the power- 78 which through a chain 80 rotates a sprocket 82 and.

the threaded member 68.

As was mentioned above the threaded member 64 may be considered the power input shaft for moving the folding channel side walls. ,This shaft at its outer end is provided with a squared portion 84 for receiving a hand However, preferably, the shaft 64 is rotated through a chain 86 (Figs. 3 and; 4) which passes around a sprocket 88 secured thereto and crank to effect such movement.

also a sprocket 90 secured to the output shaft of a gear reduced motor 92 mounted on frame 59. The motor 92 is of the reversible type and is controlled by a switch 94 having appropriate contacts which may be operated by a handle 96 to cause the motor 92 to rotate in either a clockwise or a counterclockwise direction, in order to rotate the threaded shaft 64 in a desired direction which will move the compositely formed side walls inwardly or outwardly of the folding channel. If desired a pointer 98 may be secured to one of the bracket members 40 and be matched against reference marks 100 formed on a front portion of the machine frame in order to obtain an accurate positioning of the side walls of the folding channel. I

Also associated with the side walls of the folding channels are rear end tuckers 102 (Fig. 1A). The rear end tuckers are mounted for pivotal movement about the shaft 21 and are arranged to swing with the elevator 20 so as to provide for a tucking operation in a well known fashion as an article is introduced on the elevator. The end tuckers 102 (Figs. 1A and 8) are mounted on brackets 103, which are slidable on shaft 21 and are provided with deep slots 104 which receive relatively short projections 106 extending from the lower portions of the brackets 40. It will be apparent that with this arrangement the tuckers 102 will be moved transversely with the side walls of the folding channel and yet will still be able to swing with the elevator 20.

As noted above there are two conveyors having matching spaced fiights or paddle 26 which extend between and carry articles past the side walls of the folding channel. Each conveyor may be considered a unit which includes mounting means permitting movement of the conveyors transversely of the folding channel. The conveyors include chains 108 to which the paddles 26 are connected and links 109 extending between the chains and the paddles to maintain the paddles normal to the base of the folding channels as articles are carried therethrough. The roller chains 108 are respectively mounted on idler sprockets 110 (Fig. 2) at the front end of the machine and driving sprockets 114 at the rear of the machine. The upper runs of the chains 108 are guided by rails 117 while the lower runs of the chains 108 are guided by double rails 119 which are curved at their forward ends to conform with the flow of articles through the folding channel (Fig. 1A). The sprockets 110 and 114 and guide rails 117 and 119 are mounted through the following arrangement. Panel or guard members 111 respectively run the length of each conveyor and have straps such as is seen at 121 in Fig. 1A connecting the guide rails 117 and 119 to the panel 111. At this point it may be also noted that a combined support and guide rail 123 is secured to the inner surface of the panel 111, its lower edge forming with each rail 117 a spaced passageway for the upper runs of the conveyors 108.

At the rear of the machine (Figs. 1B and 2) forked plates 125, secured to rails 117, 119, rotatably receive the respective driving sprockets 114 (Figs. 1B and 2) which are driven in a manner described below, At the forward end of the machine (Figs. 1A and 2) the idler sprockets 110 are rotatably carried on stub shafts 127 which are adjustably mounted in slots 129 formed in rectangular plates 131. The plates 131 extend behind side walls brackets 56 and are secured to L-shaped plates 133 and plates 131 and 133 are then connected to the rails 117, 119 through a spacer member 135 (see Fig. 1n particular), there being a separate spacer 137 for the lower rails 119. These units are further secured to the panels 111 by screws 139 which secure the upper end of the plate 133 to a strap 141 extending from the panel 111. Further interconnection is provided between the panels 111 and the guide rails 117, 119 and 123 by C- shaped members 143 (seen only in Fig. 1B) adjacent the transverse shaft 54 and other C-shape m m e s 5 adjacent the transverse shaft 52 (Figs. 6 and 7). Each of these G-shaped members is secured to the respective rails 123, 117 and 119. Referring to Fig. 6 one C-shaped member 145 will be seen recessed to provide clearance for the conveyor chains 108.

The conveyor units are mounted for movement transversely of the folding channel through the following arrangement. The plates 133 are appertured to slidably receive the transverse shaft 58 while the C-shaped members 143 and 145 are apertured to slidably receive respectively the transverse shafts 54 and 52. It will be noted that there is no connection between the conveyors and the threaded shafts 64, 66 and 68.

Among the features of our invention is included means to selectively move the folding channel side Walls independently of or simultaneously with its respective adjacent conveyors. To this end we have provided the following arrangement which gives an interconnection between the side walls and conveyors which may be selectively maintained. Three latches identified as 147, 149 and 151 are found on each conveyor. The latches 147 (Fig. 1A) are pivotally mounted on the L-shaped plate 133 at 153. The latches 149 (Fig. 1B) are pivotally mounted on the C-shaped members 143 at 155 and the latches 151 (Fig. 1B) are pivotally mounted on the C-shaped members 145 at 157. The latches of each conveyor are connected together for simultaneous movement by a bar 159 (Figs. 1A and 1B) associated with each set of latches and pivotally mounted at the upper end of the latches 149 and 151 and links 161 pivotally connected to the upper ends of the latches 147 and the front end of the bar 159. In the position illustrated the latches maintain the conveyors in interconnected relation with their adjacent side walls in a manner to be more fully described. When it is desired to break this interconnection a handle-like lever 163 connected to the latch 147 may be raised to the dotted position seen in Fig. 1A. In order to maintain the lever 163 either in the full line position shown or in the dotted position blocks 165 and 167 are provided. Each block has an inclined surface (Fig. 9) which facilitates the entrance of a lever pin 169 into retaining slots 171 or 172.

The interconnection between the conveyors and the side walls is provided by the latches 147, 149 and 151 engaging means on the side walls as will now be described. Latches 147 have reduced ends 173 which enter slots 175 formed in projections 177 which extend inwardly from the side rail brackets 56 and beneath the plates 133. With this arrangement and when either latch 147 is in the vertical position shown, rotation of the threaded shaft 64 to move the side wall bracket 56 inwardly will cause I in Fig. 5.

The latches 149 are similarly arranged being provided with reduced tips 179 which enter slots 181 formed in projections 183 which underlie the C-shaped member 143. Thus when shaft 66 is rotated to move the side walls outwardly the reduced portions 179 are engaged by the sidewalls of the slots 181 to carry the intermediate portions of the conveyors outwardly. Similarly when the shaft 66 is rotated in a reverse direction the outer faces of the C-shaped members 155 are engaged by the inner face of the rail brackets 46 to push said portions of the conveyor 7 inwardly.

The above will be more readily understood by the similar arrangement of latches 151 (Figs. 6 and 7) which are likewise provided with reduced portions 185 which are arranged to enter slots 187 in projections 189 which projections extend inwardly from the rail bracket 50 and underlie portions of the C-shaped member 145.

When the threaded shaft 68 is rotated in a direction to move the side walls inwardly the conveyors are pushed inwardly as the inner face of the bracket 50 engages the outer face of the O-shaped members 145 as is indicated in phantom in Fig. 6. When the shaft 68 is rotated in a reverse direction the rear portions of the conveyors are pulled outwardly as the side wall of slots 187 engages the reduced portions 185.

As will readily be appreciated the conveyors must be operable at all times regardless of any transverse adjusted position which they may assume. Thus the driving sprockets 114 (Figs. 13 and 2) are slidably mounted on a shaft 191 and provided with a splined connection employing a key 193. The shaft 191 is rotated through a roller chain 195 which passes around a sprocket 197 secured at one end of the shaft 191. The chain 195 passes around the various sprockets illustrated to also drive the end labeling device 36 in a conventional manner. The chain 195 is itself driven by sprocket 197 which is secured to a shaft 199 which in turn through gears is driven from a shaft 201. The shaft 201 is driven through a chain and sprocket 203, 205 respectively from a power source not shown. The shaft 201 also carries a roll 207 which drives a belt 209 for assisting the conveyors in carrying articles past the end labeler and cold boxes and discharging such articles from the wrapping machine.

Under most normal operating conditions the latches 147, 149 and 151 would be in the full line position shown in Figs. 1A and 13, providing an interconnection between the folding channel side walls and the adjacent conveyors. When it is desired to adjust the width of the folding channel the switch handle 96 is turned to make contact with appropriate contacts in the switch 94 so that the motor 92 will rotate in a direction which will rotate the threaded shafts 62, 64, 66 and 68 in a direction to move the side walls either inwardly or outwardly as desired. Because of the interconnection described above the conveyors will move simultaneously with the side walls thus maintaining a fixed distance between the side walls and the conveyor paddles 26.

When it is desired to clear or otherwise service the side walls or any component thereof the preferred practice is to manipulate the switch handle 96 to cause the conveyors and side walls to move inwardly as far as possible then either one or both of the levers 163 are raised to their upper positions bringing the latches 147, 149 and 151 out of abutting rotation with the side walls of the slots 175, 181 and 187 respectively. The side walls are thus disconnected from the adjacent conveyors and by manipulating the switch handle 96 in reverse fashion the side walls will be moved to an extreme outer position as illustrated in Fig. 6 thus providing a maximum clearance between the side walls and the conveyors and permitting ready access to the side wall components and particularly facilitating the cleaning of such components which as a matter of routine must be at fairly frequent intervals.

It will be appreciated that the wrapping machine may be operated either with the side walls connected to the adjacent conveyors or when they are in disconnected or disassociated conditions illustrated in Fig. 6. Thus it is possible to also obtain any desired spacing between the side walls and the conveyor paddles as may be desired in order to meet special packaging requirements.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as novel and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. A wrapping machine having a folding channel comprising two opposed side walls and a base plate beneath said side walls, a pair of overhead conveyors having matching spaced flights passing between said side walls to carry successive articles along said base plate and through said folding channel, means for mounting said conveyors and said side walls for movement transversely of the folding channel, a plurality of transverse threaded members threadably received by said side walls, said threaded members being oppositely threaded at their opposite side portions, means to rotate said threaded members, and selective means to interconnect said side walls with respective adjacent conveyors for simultaneous movement of both or disconnect said side walls and conveyors for independent movement of the side walls.

2. A wrapping machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein the selective means comprise a plurality of latches along each conveyor, a plurality of abutment members mounted on each side wall for latching engagement with respective latches and a single lever on each conveyor for selectively bringing all latches thereon into or out of engagement with the associated abutment members to connect or disconnect the side and its adjacent conveyor.

3. A Wrapping machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein the means to rotate the threaded members include a reversible electric motor and a reversing switch which may be selectively operated to control the direction of rotation of the motor and thus the direction of movement of the side Walls or the side Walls and the conveyors.

4. A wrapping machine as set forth in claim 1 which also includes a vertically movable elevator for bringing successive articles to the folding channel, a pair of spaced end tuckers movable with said elevator, said end tuckers also being mounted for movement transversely of the folding channel and means connecting each end tucker with an adjacent side wall whereby the tuckers will be moved transversely with the side walls.

5. A wrapping machine having a folding channel comprising two opposed side walls and a base plate beneath said side walls, a pair of overhead conveyors having matching spaced flights passing between said side walls to carry successive articles along said base plate and through said folding channel, means for mounting said side walls and said conveyors for movement transversely of the folding channel and selective means for moving said side walls simultaneously with respective adjacent conveyors or independently of the conveyors.

Bronander Apr. 25, 1939 Schlemmer Dec. 24, 1957 

